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In 2022, Justin Jefferson had a massive breakout season, breaking multiple records on his way to Offensive Player of the Year.
His stellar campaign began in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers, wherein he caught 11 passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns as the Minnesota Vikings won 23-7.
However, Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander was unimpressed at the time, saying ahead of the rematch:
"You don’t want to put too much focus on that one person because it’s like, the first game, that was a fluke."
Justin Jefferson responds to Jaire Alexander
In the said rematch, the Packers defeated the Vikings to keep their faint playoff hopes alive, with Jaire Alexander breaking up a pass intended for Justin Jefferson, then doing the griddy dance.
But Alexander and his team were eliminated the following week after losing to the Detroit Lions. Jefferson certainly remembered his words, and in a new interview with CBS's Zach Aldridge, he lay into the cornerback:
“Nobody's really worried about him. It just goes to show you the amount of attention that he was trying to give me. You can't call a 180-yarder a fluke. That's something that's not a fluke, you can't just walk up on 180 yards in the NFL.”
Justin Jefferson discusses former teammate Dalvin Cook joining New York Jets
When the new NFL season begins, Justin Jefferson will be feeling the absence of one former teammate: running back Dalvin Cook.
In June, the Minnesota Vikings released the four-time Pro Bowler and their leading rusher at the time. On Tuesday, however, he finally ended his free agency by joining the New York Jets.
Speaking to Rich Eisen, Jefferson could not have been happier for his teammate:
"I'm happy for Dalvin to get an opportunity, another opportunity, especially over how the market has been going for the running backs.
"[It's] definitely something that has not been easy for all of them, but to have him sign with the Jets - a team that has lots of great players, for him to come in and add to that talent?
"So it is definitely going to be fun to watch him in that offense, to see the amount of talent that they have and see what they can do with that talent."
In that same interview, he also discusses his #2 ranking on the top 100 players of 2022, playing with the Cincinnati Bengals' Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase at LSU and surpassing 2,000 yards, which is something he has been open about doing.
